Category: Social Media

The process of making a Super Bowl ad often entails the deployment whiz-bang special effects honed with weeks of editing and fine-tuning. Not so for Diet Coke, which this year converted what was originally supposed to be a quick social media video into its 30-second in-game TV ad.

The spot, by Anomaly Los Angeles, shows actress Hayley Magnus extolling the virtues of Diet Coke’s new Twisted Mango flavor with a little dance. The video was originally meant to be part of a portfolio of tweetable videos for the brand’s new “Because I can” campaign that touts Diet Coke’s new flavor lineup that comes in slim cans.

Magnus improvised the scene while filming in intense heat in east Los Angeles, says Danielle Henry, group director of integrated marketing content for Coca-Cola North America. It was filmed in one take and directed by Paul Feig, whose credits include the “Ghostbusters” reboot and creating the TV series “Freaks and Geeks.”

The brand liked the video so much that it became its Super Bowl ad. The spot marks the first time Diet Coke has run an ad in the game since 1997.

“This little teeny tiny snackable peice of social content ended up being one of the best pieces of content that we have in the campaign because it’s one of the things that best showcases the attitude of Diet Coke’s ‘because I can’—-that being do whatever makes you happy no matter what anyone else thinks,” Henry says.

Magnus is among a larger cast of up-and-coming actors that Diet Coke put in the broader campaign, which debuted in late January. The approach contrasts with the brand’s prior strategy of plucking big-name celebrities and pop stars, like Taylor Swift. Magnus herself plays the character Simone on the Australian TV series “Wrong Girl.”

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Mars Wrigley Confectionery U.S. has announced Sweet ReTREAT, a chocolate and candy-inspired pop-up salon as a Valentine’s Day treat. Fans are invited to book appointments (with a plus-one to share the experience with a friend) on Feb. 13th or 14th at MarsSweetReTREAT.com.

Promising candy, chocolate, gum and mint-themed “TREATments,” the Sweet Retreat experiential marketing activation by Mars Wrigley Confectionery U.S. will indulge the senses—not just the palate.

Services range from manicures and pedicures to blow-outs, style touch-ups and a make-up counter, all infused with the spirit of Mars Wrigley Confectionery’s chocolate, candy, gums and mints.

The brands will even bring a twist to the traditional salon lounge, spotlighting Mars Wrigley Confectionery’s loved products and candy-coating the space—from couches to art installations and even mirrors—making it look good enough to eat.

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Kraft is giving families an opportunity to appear in the brand’s first-ever Super Bowl ad by sharing photos of their game-day activities on social media, Anne Field, director of brand building for Kraft, told Marketing Dive in a phone interview. The content will be reviewed in real-time to create a 30-second spot scheduled for the second half of the game.

A push across social, digital and broadcast media kicks off today, Jan. 29, and continues through Feb. 4 to make consumers aware of the opportunity. Additionally, a pre-game TV ad will air before kickoff inviting participation. For a chance to appear in Kraft’s Super Bowl commercial, families can share photos and videos on game day between 6 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. ET via Twitter or Instagram with the hashtags #FamilyGreatly and #KraftEntry.
The Super Bowl effort is the next stage in Kraft’s new Family Greatly platform, which was introduced in December and brings together all the products bearing the Kraft brand under one umbrella. The new unified strategy is rolling out across all marketing materials this year.

Dive Insight:

Kraft is going for a feel-good emotional connection with Super Bowl fans via a campaign about coming together as a family — however you want to definite what constitutes a family — to enjoy shared experiences like watching the biggest football game of the year or eating macaroni and cheese. Crafting the ad in near real-time from viewers’s photos and giving fans a chance to be in a Super Bowl ad that could be viewed by 11 million people is likely to build anticipation for the ad, ensuring people stick around to watch during commercial breaks.

“The goal of the Super Bowl campaign is to demonstrate our purpose by giving the stage to families and build that emotional connection with a big gesture,” Field told Marketing Dive.

“No matter how you define family, whomever you choose to celebrate game day with is great. We are happy to see videos from all kinds of homes and parties across the country,” she said.

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For the past three years, Avocados From Mexico has delighted Super Bowl viewers with wacky TV spots. The brand has also always given consideration to its digital Super Bowl-related presence, and this year will be no different.

The brand partnered with Inmoji, a company that creates clickable, branded icons, to bring a big part of the campaign to life. The emoji-focused company lets users send clickable icons that can share anything from movie times to concert tickets to a friend’s location. It also has developed a patent-pending “Picmoji” feature it’s going to use in the Avocados From Mexico campaign that combines your best selfie with your favorite emoji (the avocado, duh). The Inmoji feature will live inside a larger “Guacworld” digital campaign for the brand, which will launch in the coming days and was done in partnership with digital agency Richards/Lerma and development agency Wealthy Mind.

“When you tap on the Inmojis, instead of opening on one of our campaign pages, it now opens to your camera,” Michael Africk, CEO and founder of Inmoji, said. Once the camera is open, users can pick a filter, take a selfie and send it to their friends on their messaging platform of choice, including iMessage, Facebook Messenger, Android, Tango, Kik, and the Inmoji App.

The recipient will see whatever emoji the sender has selected, and when the recipient clicks on the emoji, the selfie will appear. “It’s essentially making the emoji the Trojan horse, but it has a Picmoji filter inside where you can take pictures and share,” Africk said.

For Avocados From Mexico, Inmoji was the perfect partner, because while the technology needed to be the “greatest and latest,” according to Ivonne Kinser, head of digital marketing at Avocados For Mexico, it also needed to be relevant for the brand. This year, emojis seemed the perfect avenue for Avocados From Mexico. Kinser noted that emojis are becoming more and more a way for people to communicate with each other (think iPhone X’s animated emojis).

“Every year, we look for new technology and innovation that helps us to stay at the forefront of our industry,” Kinser said. “For us, we are in a brandless industry, fresh produce, and we don’t have the budget that consumer-packaged-goods brands have. We really have to get creative in terms of the technology that we use. The approaches that we take have to be very disruptive to really breakthrough that clutter of messages.”

Many brands focus on Twitter because, across all social media, about 80 percent of customer concerns and complaints are reported on that platform. Gatorade goes strong on Twitter but they’re available for questions no matter what platform, and they also make sure to share fun and interesting posts that feature their brand, what’s happening in the company and more. They do this so well that on Instagram when they respond to customers, those same people will often tag their friends so they can see what Gatorade does. This has helped them increase brand affinity and public reach. Gatorade’s responses aren’t canned, by the way: they’re specific answers to the questions asked, and they’re also helpful when it comes to questions regarding ingredients, sponsors and discontinued products.

When was the last time you got a gift in the mail from a company simply for making a comment — good or bad — about a brand or product? If you’ve never witnessed such an experience, try Chobani. They often send follow-up gifts simply because they like to delight their customers. One customer who survived on Chobani’s peach yogurt after oral surgery received a “get well” note. By using this strategy, Chobani can nurture positive relationships and build loyalty among its audience. When another customer proclaimed that she’s obsessed with the company’s coconut yogurt, Chobani asked her to DM them so they could send her something more to enjoy. That kind of consumer attention will earn companies a level of support you couldn’t achieve otherwise.

When Facebook live video streaming became an option, Dunkin’ Donuts was one of the first brands to take advantage of the feature. In mid-February 2016, they posted a video of how to make a cake from heart-shaped donuts and requested viewers to share their own love story for a chance to win $10,000. This generated 21,000 viewers in under 15 minutes. But Dunkin’ didn’t rest on its laurels there; the company followed it with live broadcasts for both National Donut Day and the following year’s Valentine’s day, and achieved five times the number of views as before.

Bacon is a popular ingredient and solo items for many. But often people will just get whichever package from the store that’s reasonably priced and appears to provide the best value. Oscar Meyer kicked off its winning Say it with Bacon social media campaign to help people see their choice should always be the Original 16-ounce package of … you guessed it.

You may remember that for the better part of a year, Hostess brand products weren’t on the market. In the consumer business, that could mean the death knell for a brand. Instead, Hostess took the time to reintroduce its products with its Prepare Your Cakeface comeback campaign, which encouraged consumers to share photos via social media of their faces as they eagerly awaited the return of Twinkies and other Hostess products.Only after the prep work did the relaunched Hostess brand bring their resurrected items back to grocery shelves.